VOLUME X, NUMBER 4 WINTER SOLSTICE 200 I MUSHROOM CULTIVATION: FROM FALCONER TO FANATICUS AND BEYOND bYYACHAJ The first successful cultivation of psilocybian mushrooms On a few occasions people ate mixed batches ofAgaricus and from Mexico was accomplished by the French mycologists P suhhalteatus, and experienced the first (involuntary) "trips" ROGERHElMand ROGERCAILLEUXinParis during the late in Western history (GARTZ1993). Hence, FALCONER'Sbook 1950s. The first kitchen cultivation methods for basement is still among the most informative publications for home shamans came to light in the 1970s. But the real break- cultivators of potent psilocybian mushrooms like Panaeolus throughs only recently became accessible to the public. cyanescens and P tropicalis. He describes mushroom cultiva- tion in cellars and greenhouses on horse manure compost in The roots of psilocybian cultivation techniques go back to better detail than any recent author. Introduced as "Mr. 18th century France, when Agaricus (white button) mush- Gardener's method," FALCONERevendevotes a full chapter rooms were first cultivated; King LOUISXIV (1643-1715) may on the yield-boosting effects of a casing-a top layer of soil have been among the original European mushroom grow- placed on the mushroom bed, made from loam (a mixture ers. The mushroom "sewing seed" (or spawn) was obtained of clay, sand, silt and organic matter). This important by digging up mycelium from meadows where wild agarics discovery was soon forgotten and only eighty years later grew and horses were active. The mycelium was then trans- '''rediscovered. ferred to special caves near Paris, set aside for this unique form of agriculture. From France, the gardeners of England The techniques for cultivating psilocybian mushrooms in the found mushrooms an easy crop to grow, requiring little la- 1950s were still largely based on the methods as described bor, investment, and space. English mushroom cultivation in FALCONER'Sbook.For instance, in 1956 the first 100grams increased in popularity, due to more experimentation with of cultivated Psilocybe mexicana was successfully grown on spawn and publicity in journals and magazines. In the late compost by ROGERHElM. The details of the methods of 19th century, mushroom production made its way across the HElM, and his collaborator ROGERCAILLEUX,were not Atlantic to the United States, where curious home garden- published in English before 1977, in the now hard-to-obtain ers in the east tried their luck at growing this unique crop. book Magic Mushroom Cultivation by the late Dr. STEPHEN Then, in 1891, the first book on mushroom growing was pub- POLLOCK,whowrites: lished, and it shed new light on the theory of cultivation on horse manure compost. WILLIAMFALCONER,amushroom Spawn of P mexicana was grown in flasks under sterile grower and experimenter from Long Island, agreed with the conditions on composted straw that had been well recommendations of agricultural journalists and compiled washed. Unwashed straw compost was placed in earth- their theories into Mushrooms: How to Grow Them; A Practi- enware pots and sterilized. The pots of compost were then inoculated with spawn from the flasksand set in a cal Treatise on Mushroom Culturefor Profit and Pleasure (avail- greenhouse.Afterabout twoweeksthe compost waswell able on-line at http://chla.library.comell.edu/ cgi-bin/ chla/ invaded by the myceliaand coveredwith a thin layerof chla-idx?notisid=AAM1556). casing material. The casing material consisted of an un- specified mixture of various sands and calcareous The early methods of finding, digging up, and perpetuating (chalky)earths. The greenhouse temperature oscillated the wild mycelium were uncertain and unreliable. The first between about 19to 25 centigrade. In three to sixweeks manufactured spawn combined a mixture of horse and cow after casing, mushrooms appeared. It was found that manure pressed into bricks-the original source being the spawn could not be easilygrown in the flasks unless the wild mycelium. The bricks were not sterilized, however, and compost was well washed prior to sterilization. In con- could harbor pathogens and weed fungi. Interestingly, the trast, unwashed compost was observed to be superior for obtaining mushroom fruit. Composted corn debris psilocybian Panaeolus suhhalteatus used to be a common (leavesand stalks) worked almost as well as composted weed mushroom when these classic methods were applied. straw for fruiting P mexicana in the claypots. THE ENTHEOGEN REVIEW,POB 19820, SACRAMENTO, CA 95819-0820, USA 127 VOLUME X, NUMBER 4 WINTER SOLSTICE 200 I Psilocybe mexicana was not the only species that was tested. advertisements in counter-culture newspapers and by the POLLOCKcontinues: thriving "head shop" businesses of the time. This pamphlet advised cultivating P. cubensis on compost in FALCONERstyle, Psilocybe caerulescens was grown in a similar manner but but starting from pieces of a fresh mushroom cap instead of would not produce fruit on composted straw. Composted collected mycelium. corn debris served as a suitable medium, however, for fruiting Psilocybe caerulescens in greenhouse culture. Less abundant crops of Psilocybe caerulescens were obtained OUTDOOR EXPERIMENTS using a mixture of straw and corn debris composts. In 1972, UNIVERSITYOFWASHINGTONstudents in Seattle Psilocybe semperviva readily fruited on com posted straw, discovered a mushroom that began to fruit abundantly on but yielded more luxuriant flushes on the corn debris bark mulch and lawns on the UNIVERSITYcampus.This event compost. Psilocybe mixaeensis produced mushrooms on triggered the development of outdoor cultivation techniques various composted media, such as wheat straw, corn for psilocybian mushrooms. According to JONATHANOTT, debris, and horse dung. Mexican strains of Psilocybe who wrote about this phenomenon in his books Hallucino- yungensis were fruited after five or more months of cul- genic Plants of North America (1976) and Teonandcatl: Hallu- ture on a moss medium in glass flasks. Psilocybe cinogenic Mushrooms of North America (1978), the mushrooms zapotecorum, a species first fruited on a medium of moss, was grown both on straw and horse dung composts in were usually found on the cedar bark mulch that the garden- glazed earthenware pots designed to retain water. The ers spread around landscaped areas of the campus. Intrepid mycelial laden compost was cased with calcareous sand student experimenters soon learned that these mushrooms and then completely submerged under water. Magnifi- were psychedelic, and their use as recreational drugs became cent Psilocybe zapotecorum mushrooms came up right very popular. An article in the student newspaper then through the water! This interesting phenomenon is in warned that the mushrooms were dangerous (despite the fact keeping with the "subaquatic" ecological nature of the that no illness resulting from the use of them was ever re- species. Psilocybe cubensis was fruited on cased horse ported), and the gardeners were instructed to destroy any dung compost in earthenware pots. Some specimens specimens and to put fungicides on the mulch. In 1974 they attained a full twenty centimeters (almost eight inches) fruited abundantly in Olympia and Tumwater, Washington, in pileus diameter. and again on the campus of the UNIVERSITYOFWASHING- TON.An increasing number of students learned that the old LITERATURE FROM UNDERGROUND French method of collecting mycelium and transplanting it In the two decades between the research of HElM and to fresh substrate worked extremely well for mushrooms of CAILLEUXandthe book of POLLOCK,feworiginal discoveries this group, which were later identified as belonging to the were published. "Underground" booklets and pamphlets be- "caramel caps." In fact, as mushroom pioneer PAULSTAMETS gan to circulate, some describing the cultivation of psilo- explains in his cultivators' bible, Growing Gourmet and Me- cybian mushrooms. Notable among these was The Psyche- dicinal Mushrooms, "they are common in urban and subur- delic Guide to Preparation of the Eucharist, a 1968 book that ban areas and are actually rare in natural settings. Idealloca- described cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis on agar, liquid cul- tions for collecting this mushroom are in the landscaped ture, uncased rye grain, and compost, and P. mexicana on property of government facilities: courthouses, libraries, potato dextrose yeast (PDY) agar and liquid culture. This utility companies, and even police stations." booklet also detailed the synthesis of psilocin and other psychedelics. An identical technique appeared at about the The main difficulty of the "caramel cap" Psilocybes, such as P. same time in another booklet, entitled The Turn On Book. In azurescens, P. bohemica, and P. cyanescens, was that they only 1970, a little booklet entitled A Key to the American Psilocybin could be harvested one season per year in cool climates (and (sic) Mushroom was published by LEONARDENOS.This con- they were nearly impossible to fruit in more controlled con- tained more detailed information on tissue culture tech- ditions). So in his 1977 book, POLLOCKpredominantly wrote niques, borrowed from scientific and popular literature. about mushrooms that could be grown all year round, like However, the cultivation techniques required too many ad- Panaeolus cambodginiensis, P. cyanescens, P. subbalteatus, ditives to the agar and were overly complicated; hence, this Psilocybe argentipes, P. baeocystis, P. caerulescens, P. coprophila, pamphlet did